I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 538 Joseph's Vocational College
Perna's eyes met Marianna's smiling eyes, and she stood up suddenly, her cheeks reddened, and she shook her head repeatedly in shame and anger:

"I... I don't understand what you are talking about... I don't have any, I am not your Highness's lover, cough..."

"Yes, I know." Marianna smiled even more brightly, walked up to hug her flustered best friend, and said softly, "My dear, you are so beautiful and have a soul full of knowledge. No one can resist your charm..."

"Marianna, I think I have to go." Perna took two steps back and saluted like a child caught stealing candy, stammering, "I, I'm going to talk to His Highness about Baron Lavoisier, and I have to do it as soon as possible..."

Marianna thanked him repeatedly and put the gift she had prepared for the crown prince into her hands. Then she watched her run into the carriage, smiled again, waved at her back and said,
"Perna, change out of that men's clothing, it drowns out your beauty!"

"Well……"

Perna huddled in the carriage, her heart pounding. She felt a mixture of sweetness and sourness, and words like "chief mistress" flashed through her mind from time to time.

After a long while, she suddenly remembered Marianna's last words and couldn't help looking down at the dark gray men's suit on her body. After hesitating for a few seconds, she nodded vigorously as if she had made up her mind.

Southeast side of the Palace of Versailles.

In the Royal Ordnance Factory, Joseph looked helplessly at the chief technician Garman:
"That means there are only two technicians in the entire arsenal who are proficient in rifling techniques?"

"That's true, Your Highness." Garman lowered his head and said, "Even in Charleville, there are only six or seven technicians who can do this. You know, this is a very delicate and complicated skill, and it is rarely used."

Joseph sighed and said, "Then start training immediately. How long does it take to train 100 rifling technicians?"

"That..." Garman hesitated, "It depends on the apprentice's talent, Your Highness. A master can usually teach three apprentices. If the apprentice learns quickly, he can become a master in two years, and can do processing on his own after another half a year of practice."

"So long?!" Joseph calculated in his mind that according to the standard of "learning quickly", it would take five years to gather these 5 rifling technicians.

Garman glanced nervously at Louis XVI who was looking at the blueprint next to him, and whispered:

"It took His Majesty the King more than nine months to master it..."

Joseph was relieved. The first French craftsman needed nine months to learn, which showed that this technique was indeed very difficult.

The rifling operation of this era was done purely manually. A hook knife was used to "carve" four spiral lines of uniform width and exact spacing on the inner wall of an iron pipe with a diameter of more than ten millimeters and a length of one meter. If there was a slight deviation of 1 mm in the middle, the entire line would have to be scrapped and redone. Only the top craftsmen could accomplish this.

Joseph immediately felt something was wrong. There was no shortage of talented craftsmen in France. Even if they were not as good as his father, they were not so much worse.

So he looked at the head technician and asked, "Why do other apprentices take so much longer than Your Majesty?"

"Well, of course, it's mainly because of your Majesty's extraordinary talent." Garman said, "In addition, Mr. La Roselle has been guiding your Majesty step by step.

"Generally speaking, whether it is the arsenal or the technicians in Charleville, they can only devote two hours a day to teaching apprentices, and they have to divide it among three people."

"Two hours?" Joseph asked in surprise, "Why is there only so little time?" "Your Highness, the technicians all have their own work to do, and that's where their salary comes from." Garman explained patiently, "So craftsmen are generally only willing to take one apprentice, and usually just let the apprentice watch and figure it out on their own, and it's hard for them to get guidance for several days.

"So in the past, it took an apprentice five to ten years to become a master. This time, with your instructions, it can be shortened to two years, which is relatively fast."

Joseph couldn't help rubbing his forehead. The apprenticeship system of this era is really terrible. With such efficiency in training talents, how can it keep up with the needs of industrial development?
He thought for a moment and continued, "Then, if I let the technicians spend all their time training apprentices and do nothing else, and I pay them, will it be faster?"

Garman spread his hands and said, "Your Highness, I'm afraid that even if they agree, they will secretly take the job.

"After all, they have to keep their touch, otherwise, after teaching the apprentices, they may no longer be the top ones in the industry."

Joseph nodded silently when he heard this.

Therefore, the root of all problems lies in the training mechanism.

For those craftsmen, their main job always comes first, and teaching apprentices is just to have someone to help them. The tuition fees in this era were extremely meager, and they basically looked down on it.

Therefore, if we want to solve the problem of cultivating industrial talents, we must introduce a vocational and technical training system.

Let the craftsmen who teach skills leave their jobs completely and become professional teachers, and their remuneration will be based on the number of students they train.

This opportunity of training rifling technicians was used to establish a number of vocational schools, which would play a huge supporting role in France's industrial revolution.

You know, the contribution of a professional and technical craftsman to industrial development can sometimes exceed that of hundreds of ordinary workers who can only do repetitive work. And vocational schools can allow France to obtain such talents several times faster than other European countries!
In later generations, Germany's advanced manufacturing industry was supported by a large number of skilled workers. Vocational education was even called the "secret weapon" of Germany's industrial take-off, which shows how important it is.

Joseph immediately signaled to Emmanuel who was standing at the door: "Please inform Count Mirabeau, Monsieur Gensonnet, and Archbishop Beaumont..."

He couldn't help but pause when he said this. Although the French education system has always been managed by the church, he always felt that it was a bit inappropriate to let a priest preside over the construction of an industrial college.

In the future, the education system, at least vocational high schools and universities, should be separated from the church, and they can be responsible for literacy education in local parishes.

"And Mr. DeNico, come to my place tomorrow morning."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph turned to Garman and said, "You and Manager Martin Neil should come as well."

The industry, education, and propaganda departments, plus the two senior executives of the ordnance factory, are basically enough to establish the framework of a vocational college in the military industry. As for other industries, they can be used as a blueprint and then expanded slowly in the future.

After giving instructions for the vocational school, Joseph and his father discussed the plan for mass production of the Auguste 1790 rifled rifle until dusk. The two returned to the Palace of Versailles exhausted and excited to prepare for dinner.

(End of this chapter)